Shinji Aoba stormed into Kyoto Animation’s No. 1 studio on July 18, 2019, and set it on fire.
A Japanese court sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of murder and other crimes Thursday for carrying out a on an anime studio in Kyoto, Japan, that killed 36 people.
The Kyoto District Court said it found the defendant, , mentally capable to face punishment for the crimes and announced his capital punishment after a recess in a two-part session on Thursday.
Aoba stormed into Kyoto Animation’s No. 1 studio on July 18, 2019, and set it on fire. Many of the victims were believed to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning. More than 30 other people were badly burned or injured.
Authorities said Aoba, who screamed during the attack, was neither a current nor former employee of Kyoto Animation Company, a renowned producer of hit TV series.
Judge Keisuke Masuda said Aoba had wanted to be a novelist but was unsuccessful and so he sought revenge, thinking that Kyoto Animation had stolen novels he submitted as part of a company contest, according to NHK national television.
